Ⅰ. Background

In March 2019, Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and President of the People's Republic of China, paid a state visit to Italy, which made Italy the first member state of the Group of Seven (G7) to join the Belt and Road Initiative. This landmark event greatly boosted our university’s enthusiasm and confidence in deepening cooperation with Politecnico di Milano. Politecnico di Milano expressed its willingness to fully deliver on the consensus reached during General Secretary Xi Jinping’s state visit to Italy through sustained bilateral collaboration.

Ⅱ. History of Cooperation and Development

In 2009, Xi’an Jiaotong University dispatched a delegation to Politecnico di Milano and inked a joint doctoral training agreement, marking the official launch of long-term partnership between the two institutions.

In 2012, the two universities further signed a dual master’s degree cooperation agreement in Electrical Engineering to deliver three-year postgraduate programs. A distinctive dual-degree training framework centering on reciprocal exchange, mutual tuition exemption and two-way academic mobility was pioneered through this partnership.

In 2015, Italian President Sergio Mattarella attended the opening ceremony of the new academic year at Politecnico di Milano, where university officials briefed the President on the joint education initiative — the XJTU-POLIMI Joint School of Design — co-developed with Xi’an Jiaotong University.

On September 7, 2019, Professor Ferruccio Resta, Rector of Politecnico di Milano, headed a high-level delegation comprising five vice rectors, fourteen deans and faculty members for an official visit to Xi’an Jiaotong University. The university leaders of both sides jointly unveiled the plaques for the XJTU-POLIMI Joint School of Design and the XJTU-POLIMI Joint Innovation Center, which were officially settled at Western China Science and Technology Innovation Harbour (iHarbour).

On April 22, 2022, the XJTU-POLIMI Joint School of Design and Innovation, Xi’an Jiaotong University obtained official approval from the Ministry of Education as a non-independent legal person Sino-foreign cooperative education institution. The school welcomed its first cohort of undergraduate students for enrollment in September the same year.

In March 2025, with official ratification from the Ministry of Education, the institution was officially renamed XJTU-POLIMI Joint School, Xi’an Jiaotong University. The newly added undergraduate program of Electrical Engineering and Automation enrolls 80 students annually.